


Christmas at the Lesters'

by internetakeover (nymeriahale)



Series: Advent fics 2016 [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 21:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8817613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nymeriahale/pseuds/internetakeover
Summary: 7 years after Dan first spent a Christmas Eve with the Lesters he's finally returning, this time for the whole festive season.///Arriving at the Lesters’ Dan is immediately hit by a wall of warmth and festive smells - Phil definitely inherited his love of scented candles - and instantly thereafter by a wave of sound, raucous enough that he’s not quite certain it’s happy. Phil doesn’t seem to be concerned, however, dumping their bags in the hall and heading straight towards the source of the noise, so Dan just shrugs and follows suit.





	

**Author's Note:**

> did I say Advent fics would be posted on Fridays? Sundays, clearly I meant Sundays and am not in fact two days late... (But seriously Fridays from now on. Hopefully.)

It takes until the 7th of December, when ‘All I Want for Christmas’ comes on in the back of the cab they’re sharing home, for Dan to realise exactly what’s been missing from his Christmas experience this year. He’d known something was off, but had chalked it up to touring and Gamingmas, to not being properly settled in their home for Christmas yet - they haven’t even managed to get any decorations sorted out yet beyond the office, and work decorations somehow don’t seem to count.

“This!” he says blurrily, struggling with words as he surfaces from his doze. “This is what’s missing!”

Dan’s glad he and Phil are basically psychically linked - or ‘too fucking married’, depending on who you ask - by now, because he’s not sure anyone else would have understood what on earth he was going on about.

“Well, I’ve got you this year, haven’t I?” Phil points out, smiling a little.

“You’ve always had me, every year, even since you first sung it to me over Skype in 2009,” Dan says bluntly, confused.

Phil takes a moment to just smile at Dan, delighted and fond. It’s nothing Dan intended, but he’s certainly not complaining. “But you’re actually coming home with me _for_ Christmas, is what I mean,” he clarifies, once Dan has started to return the grin.

“That’s sappy as hell,” Dan points out, rolling his eyes when Phil just shrugs. He doesn’t bother to hide the way his smile widens at the reminder, however. 

He is, finally, coming back to the Lesters’ for Christmas. They’re still doing their own little ‘pre-Christmas’ with friends in London, but come the 23rd Dan will be travelling north with Phil to his parents, rather than directly west to his own. He’s spent Christmas Eve with them before, a memory he holds fondly despite the fact that he and Phil spent a lot of the day antisocially editing, but this is the first time he’ll actually be with them on the day. 

Since he and Phil have been living together, or at least closer together, and Dan’s moved away from his family home, he’s lost the excuse to visit the Lesters quite so close to Christmas - in the eyes of both the internet and his family. Christmas is a family time, an extended visit home is expected regardless of almost all other variables, while making a point to spend the day with your best friend or even travel to see his family is definitely not. This year he doesn’t care about one of them, and the other, after so many years, understands - or perhaps both statements hold true for both sets. Either way, he finally gets to experience the Lester family Christmas Phil speaks so fondly of, and he’s kind of stupidly excited about it.

~~~

Arriving at the Lesters’ Dan is immediately hit by a wall of warmth and festive smells - Phil definitely inherited his love of scented candles - and instantly thereafter by a wave of sound, raucous enough that he’s not quite certain it’s happy. Phil doesn’t seem to be concerned, however, dumping their bags in the hall and heading straight towards the source of the noise, so Dan just shrugs and follows suit.

It’s not happy, he doesn’t think - something to do with Phil’s dad not picking up shopping they needed, and possibly some extended relatives? - but the tone changes pretty quickly when Phil enters the room. 

“Phil! Dan!” Kathryn greets enthusiastically, heading straight over to hug Phil. “Hello, hello, we’re going to visit your grandparents in twenty minutes, good timing!”

“Hello to you too, mum,” Dan can’t see Phil’s face, but he can hear the smile and fondness in his voice as he embraces her tighter. “Having a lovely relaxing Christmas are we?”

“Oh, always,” she laughs, releasing Phil and turning to sweep Dan up. “How are you, darling?” she asks in Dan’s ear as he too hugs her close, relaxing down into her warm embrace. 

“I’m great, thank you,” Dan answers honestly, hiding a stupidly big grin. He’d still been nervous up until about 10 seconds ago - while he never forgets just how much he loves the Lesters Dan is sometimes afraid he’s misremembered just how welcoming they are to the boy who stole their youngest away from home.

“Dan,” Phil’s dad greets him with a smile and a handshake after releasing Phil from a brief hug. “I’ll see you at the grandparents,” he says to both Dan and Phil once Dan’s successfully navigated the handshake minefield with a smile and a nod. “I have to pick up something that wasn’t on the list or Christmas will be ruined,” he rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile there, and clear amusement in Kathryn’s voice as she calls after him.

“It was on the list! It’s always on the list!” she shakes her head as Nigel shuts the front door behind him without another word. “Men,” she sighs.

“Hey!” Phil objects. 

“It must be a Lester men thing,” Dan jumps in, once he’s finishing laughing. “I swear Phil just can’t read shopping lists, sometimes I wonder if he takes his contact lenses out specifically to go shopping.”

“Clearly genetic,” Kathryn sighs over Phil’s offended squawks. “Now as lovely as it is to see you both, why don’t you go and get settled in before we rush you out of the house again?”

“I guess, if you don’t _want_ to talk to us,” Phil sighs, dragging his feet as he nonetheless does as he's told.

~~~

Visiting Phil’s grandparents is something of a blur - Martyn and Cornelia arrive just before they’re due to eat and there’s a scramble to find them somewhere to sit, though never a lack of food. Dan finds himself sat next to Phil’s grandma when the dust settles, desperately racking his brain for any little anecdotes or facts Phil’s told him that he can get conversation off to a particularly charming start with. 

Of course, he ends up starting with the weather. 

Thankfully, the calibre of conversation somewhat improves after that. It’s shared across the table, and up and down the length of it, half names and gossip Dan knows very little about - he shares a few bewildered glances with Cornelia - but every now and then a random reference to their tour will be made and he sits up a little straighter, in awe of how this family apparently keeps such close track of its members. He’s aware that he probably doesn’t want to know about the gossip that goes on when he’s _not_ there, but the level of awareness and investment is still impressive, and seemingly at least as much out of familial concern as interest in gossip.

The mess after the meal nearly rivals the chaos of Martyn and Cornelia’s unexpected arrival, but despite his best efforts Dan is sent with Cornelia to wait in the living room while the whole Lester clan are dragged into washing up. There’s a gratifying moment when Nigel snorts, declaring ‘they’ve been part of the family for years, put them to work!’, but the Lester grandparents insist, and that’s that. 

Dan can’t pretend he minds, after a meal like that he needs a moment to recharge. It was never loud, really, with the few disagreements perfectly civil, and there were rarely there too many voices clashing at once, but it was certainly fast paced. Dan’s mind is racing trying to decide whether to attempt to remember or just forget all the new information that had rattled past him over the course of the meal - information that would no doubt take longer to digest than the meal itself, if he chose to try.

Dan flops onto the sofa with a dramatic sigh, Cornelia laughing before doing the same on the sofa next to him.

“They never change,” she says fondly, and Dan is suddenly reminded that this is not Cornelia’s first Lester Christmas, that she’s visited these grandparents before - so has Dan, of course, but he never quite gets used to it.

“I’m sure they weren’t this bad the last time I saw them,” Dan shakes his head.

“Well, they wouldn’t be.” Cornelia shrugs when Dan looks at her curiously. “Everything goes to another level for Christmas, and this is the first time they’ve had the whole family together to celebrate.”

Dan frowns briefly - there’s equally close family missing, for the grandparents, so really they still don’t.

“I mean you!” Cornelia rolls her eyes. “If you think Phil wasn’t constantly mentioning you throughout his visits you don’t know him half as well as you should. And me and Martyn miss every other year, too,” she finishes thoughtfully, kindly ignoring Dan’s stupid satisfied smile. Of course he knew that, or would have done if he’d thought about it, but it’s still nice to know. So he gets a lot of personal satisfaction being a major part of Phil’s life, being someone he loves and misses and talks about when he’s not there. Sue him.

“How was Sweden?” Dan asks, happy to settle into catching up with Cornelia. There was a long period of time after the tour when it felt odd not to see her and Martyn every day, not to see all of them, and he really has missed them.

Cornelia’s in the middle of explaining one of her family’s Christmas traditions to Dan when the Lester grandparents come to join them.

“We’ve been sent away!” Phil’s granddad exclaims, settling in to what is very clearly his usual chair.

“Banished by our own children for ‘getting in the way’,” Phil’s grandma shakes her head. “As if our advice wasn’t helpful, as if we haven’t taught them how to clear up in the first place!” She quirks a smile at Dan as he barks out an overly loud laugh.

“Honestly, kids these days,” Phil’s granddad sighs once Dan and Cornelia have both expressed their horror at the disrespect.

“I’m sure you’ll find out for yourself soon enough, but I warn you that I wouldn’t recommend having them,” Phil’s grandma says to Cornelia in a conspiratorial tone. “They get awfully cheeky.”

“I’m not sure why you’re looking at me,” Cornelia laughs, looking far more relaxed than Dan could imagine being in her situation. “Those two are far more broody than me and Martyn have ever or will ever be,” she expands, nodding over at Dan.

“Er,” Dan freezes as both grandparents turn to look at him. “Thanks for that,” he tells Cornelia, through a forced smile. “I think we’re just going to stick to getting a dog for now,” he laughs as lightly as he can, relieved when Martyn interrupts by coming in to take tea and coffee orders.

~~~

It’s cold when Dan wakes up, stretching lazily beneath the duvet before immediately retracting his limbs when one of them hits cold air. He rolls over to confirm that Phil’s already up - yep, didn’t roll onto a warm body - and sighs heavily before rolling back to his side of the bed and reaching for his phone. He should get up soon, he knows, but maybe just a quick catch up on twitter first...

He doesn’t manage to get far before Phil comes back into the room, humming a Christmas carol and placing two hot drinks on the bedside table.

“Morning,” he greets, running a hand down Dan’s spine where he’s led on his front reading, using a steadying hand on the small of Dan’s back to lean in and drop a kiss on the top of his head.

“Happy Christmas Eve,” Dan smiles, putting his phone down and rolling onto his side. He leans in for a proper kiss once Phil’s climbed back into bed, humming happily as it ends and he presses himself close to Phil’s side, resting his head on his shoulder. “No family breakfast?” he checks.

“Martyn and Cornelia are still tired from travelling,” Phil explains, voice rumbling through his chest, through Dan. “We’re making it brunch.”

“Sounds good,” Dan sighs, slinging a leg over Phil’s under the covers. “How long do we have?” he asks.

“About two hours,” Phil tells him, encouraging Dan to roll almost half on top of him with a hand on his hip.

“I guess we could get the Gamingmas video properly ready,” Dan proposes.

“We could,” Phil agrees. They lay in silence for a moment, Phil sweeping a hand leisurely up and down Dan’s back and Dan reaching to play with Phil’s fingers on his other side.

“Let’s not,” Dan concedes, airing what they’re clearly both thinking. “It’s already uploaded, we can deal with the details after brunch.”

“Great minds,” Phil smiles, leaning in for another kiss when Dan raises his head.

They kiss for a long moment, Phil’s hand coming up the cup the back of Dan’s head, Dan intertwining their fingers on Phil’s other side, until Dan’s neck starts to ache from the strain. He breaks the kiss with a final peck before shuffling down the bed a little to rest his head more properly on Phil’s chest, where it rises and falls with each breath.

“Happy Christmas Eve,” Phil says after a few minutes of quiet, breaking through the sleepy haze Dan had been lulled into by the motion of his chest and the faint thud of his heart. “Love you,” he breathes gently, switching from trailing his fingers up and down Dan’s spine to play briefly with his hair.

“Love you,” Dan returns, squeezing Phil’s hand lightly where their fingers are still intertwined and shifting to press a kiss to the fabric beneath his cheek.

They lie there while their drinks get cold, Dan definitely falling back to sleep a couple of times, until Phil hears Martyn and Cornelia moving and decides that they really should show their faces before brunch. Dan will be annoyed if Phil lets him nap the whole morning away, anyway, they both want to see as much of the family as possible while they’re here.

“Dan,” Phil calls, shaking his shoulder gently. “We should get up.”

“Ugh,” Dan sighs, burrowing closer into Phil. “I guess.” His voice is clear, he clearly hadn’t been sleeping as Phil had feared. Regardless, he lies still for a long moment, before sighing once more and rolling off Phil with a final squeeze of his hand.

Phil watches Dan idly as he searches for clothes, finally moving to stand when Dan is half undressed. The leg Dan had been lying on gives way beneath him, and he stumbles, catching himself on the bed.

“You alright there?” Dan asks, amusement clear in his tone.

“Leg’s asleep,” Phil grimaces as feeling starts to return, sparks shooting through the limb. “It’s all your fault.”

“You should have said!” Dan protests. “I would’ve moved, you spork.”

“Was comfortable,” Phil says. He’d had the thought, sure, but he doesn’t regret his choice. 

“Sap,” Dan accuses, rolling his eyes.

Phil just shrugs, testing his leg before standing this time. He didn’t exactly hear Dan complaining.

~~~

Brunch is a much more relaxed affair than lunch the day before, to both Dan and Phil’s relief. Phil loves his family, he does, but sometimes it’s a struggle to keep up. He’s glad of the slow morning to recharge, especially with the board game marathon he knows will be coming in the afternoon. They’d missed out on that last time Dan had been up for Christmas, too busy editing, so Phil’s especially looking forward to it this year.

He and Dan end up lumbered with the washing up, somehow, Phil’s parents refusing as they’d cooked, and Martyn racing off to get the games, Cornelia shooting them a quick apologetic look before she claimed the excuse of taking drink orders. 

“What happened to yesterday’s guest status?” Dan bemoans loudly, smirking across at Phil when the laughter of Phil’s parents echoes back through the house to them, clearly his intention.

“You’re here at Christmas, there’s no escaping the family now,” Kathryn calls back. “That means you get all the fun jobs!”

“I’m leaving!” Dan yells back dramatically.

“Never!” Phil shouts, grabbing Dan around the waist and dragging him close despite the fact that no one else can see. Dan’s laughter is worth it, echoed faintly by his parents. 

Dan loops his arms around Phil, resting clasped hands on the small of his back, when Phil fails to release him. “Something you wanted?” he asks, cocking his head, eyes sparkling.

“Got it all right here,” Phil grins, squeezing, kissing Dan on the cheek before releasing him as he groans.

“Sap,” Dan repeats, but he can’t hide the smile and slight blush taking over his face, doesn’t even seem to be trying.

“Well my mum just told you there’s no escape,” Phil says lightly, moving to actually start the washing up. “I guess you’ll just have to learn to live with it.”

“For how long?” Dan asks, feigning concern.

“The rest of both our lives, I think,” Phil replies seriously. 

“Ugh, I guess I can manage that,” Dan concedes, knocking into Phil with his hip. “Only so I don’t upset your mum, you understand.”

“Oh, of course,” Phil responds. “Can’t disappoint family now, can we?” Phil bites his lip to reign in a sappy smile as he sees Dan blush even harder in his peripheral vision.

“Guess not,” Dan says softly, and it’s now his turn to kiss Phil’s cheek, gripping his hips briefly before moving to his other side to start drying.

“So!” Martyn crashes into the kitchen, slightly ruining their peaceful moment. “What board game do you want, Dan?”

“What?” Dan asks, flicking Phil a confused glance.

“Christmas Eve is board game time,” Martyn explains. “Everyone picks a game and we spend the whole afternoon playing. Possibly evening too, given how many of us there are this year,” he frowns briefly. “So what’s your game?”

“Oh, um,” Dan sends Phil a look that clearly screams ‘help’. 

“Aren’t there too many of us for that?” Phil asks as Cornelia arrives back in the kitchen perfectly on time for the kettle to boil.

“We’ll play in shifts, or teams, already discussed it,” Cornelia smiles. 

“I can just share Phil’s game?” Dan proposes. “It’ll take ages if we all have one.”

Martyn gasps, raising a hand to his chest with a hint of drama Phil’s not sure he’d quite had before touring with Dan. “It’s _tradition_ ,” he insists. “Cornelia has her own game, are you rejecting your place in the Lester family traditions?”

“Never,” Dan grins, relaxing a little into the teasing. “What are my options?”

“Bad enough that you stole Phil away that one year,” Martyn grumbles under his breath before launching into the list.

Phil knows Dan heard by the way his fingers brush Phil’s as he deliberately takes the next item due for drying, and he’s glad to be facing away, hiding his ridiculous grin, as Dan tries to figure out his choice. The little bubble of contentment Christmas normally conjures in his chest feels even bigger than normal this year, keeps rising to nearly choke him. With Martyn and Cornelia home, and Dan firmly at his side, there’s nothing he could imagine to make this Christmas better. Dan’s finally being incorporated into all of his favourite traditions, solidly a part of their family Christmas, and is showing all signs of loving it just as much as Phil does.

“If I’d known I’d’ve bought Tokaido,” Dan muses, and Phil immediately regrets not thinking of it himself - his family would love a game like that. 

“Next year,” he proposes, knocking a hip against Dan’s.

“You can’t change your choice of board game, Philip!” Martyn gasps.

“Well I could choose a card game this year and then formally pick board game next year?” Dan suggests, the casual confidence that he will indeed be returning next year making Phil happier than it really should, at this point.

“You want to alter Lester family tradition?” Martyn checks, and Phil rolls his eyes. Maybe it’s not such a good thing for Martyn to have picked up on some of Dan’s mannerisms. “It’ll have to go the the board,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s a serious family matter this, it needs a vote.”

“Go talk to mum and dad about it, then,” Phil cuts in, hoping to send Martyn away before he gets too annoying. “You can take drinks in while you’re at it,” he points out, nodding to where Cornelia has finally finished making the array of teas and coffees requested.

“Well, if you don’t _want_ to spend time with your older brother...” Martyn trails off.

“Bye Martyn,” Phil says pointedly, pulling a hand from the water to wave at his back and waiting until he’s left to laugh at the bubbles he accidentally splattered over Dan’s indignant face.

~~~

It’s nearly 11pm by the time they’ve finished the last board game and everything’s been tidied away, with a break for dinner and video publishing. Phil lets out a sigh as he squeezes in to the small gap between Dan and the end of the sofa after putting the last game away, Martyn and Cornelia on the other end and his mum and dad sat in the smaller loveseat to the side of them. All of his favourite people in one room.

“Good boy,” his mum smiles, reaching out to tap his hand where it sits on the arm of the sofa, thanking him for putting everything away without too much fuss.

“Don’t get used to it,” Phil grumbles, slinging an arm around Dan and hiding a grin in the kiss he presses to the top of Dan’s head when he leans in willingly. His parents are sat equally close, and Cornelia has got her legs slung across Martyn’s lap, yet on last Christmas Eve they’d spent together Dan had sat stiff beside him even with that tacit permission. It’s been seven years since then, and now Dan is wriggling his arm behind Phil’s back to rest a hand on his hip, briefly rubbing at an exposed slice of skin, with no apparent concern for the way Phil’s weight will definitely put his arm to sleep.

Dan’s chatting with Martyn and Cornelia about his theories for the new season of Sherlock, Phil’s parents mostly quiet, and Phil leans his head back, eyes closed, drifting on the sound. That first year Dan had still been shy, would never have dared to argue his point and would even have been a little scared to field conversation without Phil the way he is now - if you can call the way they’re currently pressed together ‘apart’. Phil’s so glad the warmth of his family has pulled Dan out of his shell, so glad he fits so well there. He doesn’t know what he would have done if either of them had actively disliked the other, it’s not even something he can imagine. There’s nothing more important to him than Dan and his family, he’s rarely happier than when they’re together and he’s so lucky and so glad that the same trend seems to be true for them.

Phil tilts his head towards his parents, opening his eyes intending to start conversation, but stopped short at the fond, contented expressions on their faces as they watched Dan and Martyn - Cornelia having sensibly mostly left the conversation - argue, Dan’s voice getting higher and higher as he became steadily more exasperated. They looked just as happy as he felt, and sure, Phil _was_ being a little overly sappy today, as Dan had accused, but it was Christmas, and his favourite people being happy always got to him. 

“Children,” his dad interrupts, clearing his throat. “It’s not nice to wind each other up,” he went on as Dan and Martyn immediately fell silent, looking sternly at Martyn in particular.

Phil follows his gaze to find Martyn failing to hide a smile, his lips twitching.

“Traitor,” Martyn mutters, though while he might be unhappy at having his fun ruined he certainly looked satisfied overall.

“What-? You-?” Dan splutters, shock written large over his face. Phil couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of him at the expression, Cornelia following suit, until the whole family are doubled up laughing at Dan.

“See if I ever come back,” Dan grumbles to himself, removing his arm from behind Phil’s back to cross his arms moodily. Phil knows him well enough to spot the crease in his cheek that means he’s hiding a grin, is close enough to hear the slight tremble in his voice that means he’s hiding a laugh - and yeah, it’s lucky that he’s settled enough, confident enough in Phil and his family for that tremble not to be something else. Phil had never heard so many nerves as that first Christmas Eve, not even the first time Dan had met his parents.

“No escape,” Phil sings out once he’s stopped laughing long enough to talk.

“You’ve not married me yet, there’s time,” Dan sniffs, cheek creasing again.

“‘Yet’,” Phil repeats cheerily, poking at Dan’s cheek just as his dimple appears there. 

Dan squeaks indignantly, batting at Phil’s hand, and pokes him in the ribs in retaliation.

“Children!” It’s Phil’s mum this time, warning deliberately threaded in her voice above the amusement. Phil slowly lowers his hand from where he had been prepared to strike, holding eye contact with Dan the whole time.

“Yeah, keep it to the bedroom,” Martyn mutters.

“Or the gaming channel,” Cornelia pipes up, setting Martyn off cackling again.

“I think this is just about enough, you’re clearly all overexcited. Bed time!” Phil’s mum decrees, clapping her hands. 

Phil, Dan, Martyn and Cornelia grumble but obey, Phil and Martyn traipsing over to exchange goodnights with their parents. Cornelia follows in their wake, kissing their mum and hugging their dad just the same, and Dan does the same only slightly more tentatively.

“It’s been lovely to have you,” Phil hears his mum say seriously just as he was leaving the room. He turns to see her still holding Dan’s hand, looking away from him to include Cornelia as Dan blinks hard. “Both of you. It’s wonderful to see our children so happy at Christmas, lovely not to be missing anyone.”

“My pleasure,” Dan manages, voice sounding rough, and Cornelia echoes him.

“Stop making Dan have emotions,” Phil tells him mum lightly when Dan seems to be floundering for what else to say, returning to take Dan’s other hand and tug him gently away. “You can bully him again tomorrow.”

“And next year, I hope,” she replies, mirroring Phil’s tone.

“Me too,” Dan smiles, seemingly a bit more composed as he grips Phil’s hand tight. “Merry Christmas.”

**Author's Note:**

> you can also find me on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/nymeriahale) and [tumblr](http://internetakeover.tumblr.com)!


End file.
